hackBRANCHES
by PinkyisABrain
Summary: OC(s)xOC(s)! In The World you can be whoever or whatever you want to be. Some choose to be different, others stay the same. Friendships, enemies, and sometimes "love" can be kindled over the game. In the end it is up to you to decide how you create yourself. ((Terrible summary but I swear it is worth a glance!))


**Author's Note: I wrote this a while back and I hope someone enjoys it! .hack/ forever! Read and Review and all that jazz. I own nothing except for the OCs used here. .hack/ is totally not mine! It belongs to CC Corp/ .hack/Conglomerate!  
**

The digital Sun smiled upon the Root Town of Mac Anu as the many players milled about through the many streets and side alleys. It was almost midday for the inhabitants of The World so the Sun was right over head. Crowds gathered to watch performing players and some even gathered in the side streets to go after professional victims. The prospect of gaining GP governed most every character's actions in the game that had grown popular in five of the seven continents. The World:U had rapidly gained attention for it's impenetrable systems that challenged any hacker on Earth to try to crack it. None had succeeded in a years time.

The familiar buildings of the main square in Mac Anu, the main town of Delta Server, made a perfect home for guilds who wanted to gain many members seeing as how Delta Server was a favorite for beginners of The World. It also made a great place for new players to meet and get to know one another. Of course, there were also those of higher levels on the server. Most with good intentions but some were not.

One of the few great aspects of The World:U was the quest system that allowed both players and non-player characters to post requests for other players to do for GP or for items. Off to the left of the main square in Mac Anu sat the Quest Master's "building." A basic building in which the Quest Master lived with a small shop-like area in the front so that players could view the boards of requests and sign up to take them on. Most quests had a minimum number of party members that had to be with a player before they could sign up. If that minimum wasn't met then one couldn't accept the quest. Parties weren't too hard to form so many quests were taken quickly.

That was the one thing that JeeKee was hoping wouldn't happen. She had spotted the perfect quest for herself and her two best friends, Enki the Shadow Warlock and Accurate the Edge Punisher, just a few minutes ago. Sadly, only Enki was online at the time she'd spotted it so they were having to wait for Accurate to show herself. JeeKee had sent multiple messages to the red-haired Edge Punisher and she continuously ran to the Quest Master's boards to see if the posting was still there.

"Gawwwwwwd! Where the heck is she? If she doesn't show up soon then it'll be taken soon! We need just one more person!"

The blue-haired girl turned to her friend with light gray hair and her red-brown eyes flashed in annoyance. She hated waiting more than anything in existence. Which was probably why her shoes constantly scuffed against the ground as she ran back and forth. From the wall where Enki stood, to the board, and back again; if it had been the real world she would have been wearing the color from the stones. Her blue dress flicked around as she moved from point A to point B, rapidly pacing to and fro.

"Just calm down, JeeKee. Accurate will be here soon and then we can go, yeah?"

Enki's voice was more girly but was much more calm than her friend's as she tried to calm the other girl down. Her looped hair swung a bit as she shook her head back and forth with a grin on her lips. Her white and black clothing shifted as she moved her balance from one leg to the other. A few non-player children ran by and she smiled in an almost motherly way. Which was odd seeing as how she'd never had a kid and didn't have any desire to have any. Besides, who needed to think about those things when she had friends like JeeKee to take care of.

The younger female continuously moved no matter what the situation happened to be about. Heck, Enki thought that it would kill the poor teen if she didn't move around constantly. Still she knew she had to calm the other girl down because she was quickly becoming an annoyance for other hopeful quest takers. Her pacing made it nearly impossible to reach the building from the town square.

She was just about to say something else to the blue-schemed girl when a group of three male player characters came into view. It didn't take long for Enki to get the inkling that they might be trouble. The one walking ahead of them had dark hair with a blonde fauxhawk in the front and his color scheme seemed to match that. Still, it wasn't his overall look that worried her. It was the fact that his eyes held that ever so familiar look. The look of someone who killed weaker players for the fun of it.

The other males seemed to be calmer and had somewhat kinder eyes. Her eyes met the shortest of the group, a red-haired male with a bayonet strapped onto his back, and they both quickly looked away. The other guy had the stature of a manly-man. Broad shoulders, muscles that looked toned, even if a game character he looked ripped; his eyes held wisdom but also a certain amount of playfulness as he listened to his fauxhawked friend's chatter.

When they reached where JeeKee was pacing they stopped. The partially blonde male seemed to sneer and reached out to shove the hyper-worried JeeKee down with a simple growled, "Move." She hit the ground and immediately Enki ran forward to help the younger girl up. Both girls' eyes flashed with different emotions and the yellow schemed male chuckled.

"Are you stupid or something? I said move. Or do you need some motivation?" The male's gray eyes shimmered with malicious intent that sent shivers through the girls in both The World and in reality.

Before JeeKee or Enki could speak the sound of heavy armored shoes sounded from behind the males. Quickly the yellow-vested male was pulled back by the back of his neck and hit the ground just as hard as JeeKee had, if not harder.

"The fuck do you think you're doing to my friend?"

The gruff but still feminine voice sounded clearly pissed off as a red-haired girl moved to stand between the boys and girls. Her stature obviously showed that she would protect the two girls with all she had as she reached behind her to where her giant sword was held on her back. She gripped the handle loosely as the others quickly helped their respective friends up.

"Accurate!"

"Just in time."

JeeKee and Enki both smiled a bit as they scrambled to get up while the red-haired girl smirked back at them before turning her attention to the tanned male whom she had just brought down. The tension could almost be seen between the two sides as the three males looked over the girls.

"What's your deal, bitch? You got a death wish or something?"

"Render, please, don't do this again." A boy in a cream and lavender outfit with muted red hair spoke softly as he reached out to try to pull his yellow and black haired friend back.

"Shut up, Arrow!" Came the growled response from the male now identified as Render as he reached around with his right hand to grip his katana-like sword and pull it from its sheath. The black blade had small yellow diamond details on it that glimmered in the digital sunlight as he pointed it at the Edge Punisher.

"Oh, a tough guy, huh? Whatcha gonna do? You can't PK in the town squares you know," Accurate smirked a bit as she gripped her hilt tighter but did not pull the blade out. She was far more calm and far too smart than to start an all out war right here.

Luckily the developers had made it so you couldn't PK in the actual squares of the root towns on all servers but as soon as you stepped into the side streets or alleyways you were fair game. It was one thing that made some players angry but also made some happier. The chance to kill made so many happy and it was obvious this guy was one of them just by looking at his eyes as they lit up.

The other females were in ready positions just in case. JeeKee with her blue, bladed fans and Enki had her spell-book out as well. Still Accurate kept her weapon away just because she knew that these boys weren't looking for a real fight. Well, the other two weren't at least.

"Put it away, Render. You were in the wrong anyway. You should have just asked the girl to move instead of shoving her down like that," the deep and forceful voice of who was obviously the oldest of the three males sounded and seemed to change the younger boy's thoughts immediately. The yellow vested Render quickly shoved his sword back into its sheath and glared at all three of the girls.

"Fine, Erasure. But keep this in mind girls, if I catch any of you on your own…I'm taking you down."

"I'd like to see you try, bum!"

JeeKee had finally gained her voice against the male and it caused Render to chuckle a bit before shoving by the females to go into the Guild Master's building. The other two males followed, Arrow looking apologetically at the three girls while Erasure simply kept his eyes towards the building. After a few seconds they moved from the building together and walked down a different path while the feminine players watched them carefully. As soon as they were gone everyone let out a small sigh of relief.

"Can you believe that? The nerve of some people! And then he threatens to PK us? I don't care how handsome his character is, that guy is a douche bag!"

"Calm down, JeeKee. We'll just have to travel together when Accurate isn't here, alright?" Enki's voice sounded as calm as ever even if her eyes still flashed with anger and worry. Meanwhile Accurate kept a watchful eye out for any sign of the guys hiding in the shadows.

"Okay…so how about this quest that you kept messaging me about?"

Accurate's eyes finally flashed playfully as she wrapped one arm around JeeKee's shoulders and one around Enki's. Almost instantly JeeKee's mouth opened as if she was remembering something she'd forgotten that was really important. Quickly she ducked from under Accurate's hold and rushed into the Quest building. Before Accurate and Enki could even take two steps they heard their friend's frustrated yell.

"Those shitheads! They stole our quest!"


End file.
